


Sour and Sweet

by PennsylvaniaKiteWeather



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Budding Romance, F/M, Kissing, Stuffing, Wardrobe Struggles, Weight Gain, foodplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 03:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennsylvaniaKiteWeather/pseuds/PennsylvaniaKiteWeather
Summary: Panne tries sweets for the first time and immediately gets hooked, and Gaius must deal with a hungry taguel coming to him for more.





	Sour and Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> Though the tags imply it, I want to emphasize that this is a fic with weight gain progression, but nothing overly-excessive. More author notes continue at the end.

Like most things, Panne found the rain despicable.

Downpours saturated her fur, soaked her to the bone and wouldn’t stop echoing in her sensitive ears. Considering how she wasn’t often found within the Shepherds’ camp, she would wander completely exposed to the elements.

This rain shower in particular had Panne on her last nerves, and she came trudging back to the camp to find some shelter. Throwing aside a tent flap, the taguel stormed into a little storage space with crates of food and extra weapons stacked to her head. She glared at the puddles forming in the dirt outside while she wrung out her braids. The long rabbit ears of hers whipped about as she shook herself.

“Woah, Whiskers,” came an easygoing voice. “I had no idea you were part dog, too.”

Panne spun around and saw a red-headed man in a dark cloak crouching on top of a tall box. He smiled at her and took a lollipop out of his mouth before hopping down from his post. “Wonderful weather we’re having, eh? Sheesh. The rain makes you even smell like a hound.”

Gaius. The thief who would throw himself into a pit of Risen if it meant getting a piece of candy at the bottom.

“I would like it if you stowed the observations,” Panne told him.

“Hey, I’m just saying.” Gaius flashed a grin and rolled the stem of his treat between his fingers. “I can be quiet while we wait out the rain. Or you can kick me out, I guess.”

Panne wordlessly kept looking up at the tarp of clouds above the dripping branches. For a while she studied them as Gaius just devoured more candy a distance away. She thought of him as a bigger fool than most of the other soldiers. While a majority was fighting for their kingdom, what was he in it for than the likely opportunity to raid the larders when the others weren’t looking? Still, he had turned coats that fateful night when she appeared in the capital to defend the exalt. Though an ally was an ally, Gaius wasn’t spared her sour attitude. Soon she was shaking her head as her patience wore thin.

Her foot stamped down. “I cannot stand this! I’d be better off not hearing you chewing and smacking your lips…!”

He had his back turned to her and glanced over his shoulder. “Sorry, heh heh.” He sheepishly held up a chocolate rabbit with its ears bitten off. “Sure you don’t want some?”

Panne’s eye twitched.

Gaius sighed and strode closer to her. “Look, I know you don’t get along with everyone. Can’t you at least lighten up with me?”

“I have nothing to share with a man who just stuffs his face all day.”

“Then here, lemme share then.” He lobbed something at her from within his cloak. “Good catch.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a chocolate-caramel square. You just take a bite and it melts in your mouth. Come on, don’t pull that face, you haven’t even tried it...! Everybody likes candy.”

Panne’s eyes watched him suspiciously, though she gave him the benefit of a doubt. Her teeth bit off a little corner piece — and her face lifted in surprise.

It was true that taguel taste buds were widely different than a human’s. Panne couldn’t tell fresh from foul. And yet, something awoke within her trying a sample of that little delicacy. Rarely did something so sweet settle in her mouth, and now there was a dance of sugary bits twinkling inside. Her swirling tongue thinned the chocolate out and left the thick caramel behind. Once she had enjoyed that one bite, she popped the rest of the snack in and managed to look completely stone-faced reveling in its flavor.

“Well?” asked Gaius.

“It was alright.”

“There’s no fooling me, Whiskers. Those red eyes of yours looked really warm for once. Why don’t I just give you this little pouch with the rest…?”

It baffled her how Gaius had stored an entire bag of the squares within his cloak, but against her better judgement she snatched it from him. “Hmph. And are you thinking I’ll owe you something in return for these things?”

“The company’s enough,” he replied with a curl of his lip.

It was Panne’s turn to face her back to him and start scarfing down candy of her own. Like a lockpicked door easing open, Gaius watched his handiwork. It was always sort of intriguing to see what a person would do when sweets opened up their tongues. Minutes later the bag dropped to the dirt and the taguel licked her thumb.

“So where do you find these… foods?” she asked rather seriously.

“W-Wait a sec, you actually wanna know…?”

“I simply want to try some more. Those were different than what I normally forage for. And if it happens to be one of the few human things that I can tolerate, then…”

“Huh, well…” Gaius hesitated and adjusted his headband. “If you’re that curious, I guess I could show you to my tent when the weather clears.”

“Are you afraid you’ll get your candy soggy, then?” Panne challenged with a smirk.

“I would run through raining fireballs if it meant reuniting with my stash.” He beckoned to her as he held up a tent flap. “Let’s go then, Whiskers.”

“Enough with that name.”

“Sorry.”

 

Gaius’ tent was, like the other Shepherds’, not very well-furnished besides the essential cot and wardrobe chest. A lantern hung overhead and a belt of knives dangled on a hook from a tall stake in the ground. Panne could catch the scent of sugar within a moment of stepping in with the thief. She strode onto the woolen rug in the center and wiped her feet.

“No, don’t do that!” Gaius was at her side in a flash. He pulled her off of the mat by the wrists and lifted the corner up. There was a sizable hole underneath filled to the brim with burlap sacks and leather satchels. He felt around the bags. “Aww, you probably squished some pastries,” he sighed. “Looks like you found my stash without even trying.”

Panne stood over him without a hint of sympathy. “Regardless, don’t ever touch me like that again.”

He undid a knot in one of the bags and dug out a jelly-filled tart, and looked over it frantically for a second before doing a taste test. “Still good,” he nodded more calmly. “Try one of these.”

The taguel retrieved one for herself out of the bag and noticed a blueberry mush seeping through the cuts in the dough. “I can’t imagine this is very sanitary,” she remarked, and bit it in half. The pastry had a fluffy flakiness to it that she liked right away. “These are such strange lengths to keep food all for yourself, Gaius. This is enough for the entire Shepherds and then some.”

He was chewing another treat, holding the bag between them. “Yeah, sometimes I’ll give myself stomachaches and I’ll still have some of my stash going bad. I just can’t manage to eat everything I steal.”

Panne glanced between him and the leftover crumbs on her fingers. “Then share. I’ll help.” She reached for the pastries again and Gaius clutched the bag closer to him defensively.

“Hang on a sec,” he said. “Remind me again when you picked up a sweet tooth.”

“…Just today, I suppose,” Panne replied with a shrug. She automatically moved for the bag again and Gaius backed up.

“I’m not handing these over unless we’re going to get to know each other better.” His lingering smirk was starting to annoy her.

In a detached tone she answered him. “Sure.” The bag was then dropped into her waiting hands. She hefted it up in one arm and pulled out one snack after the other. Panne hardly looked at them now and let her taste buds do the inspecting.

Something about the sugary fruit was taking her back to the days of her old warren. She felt like she was a young kit again picking berries from the forest bushes. And instead of putting most in a basket for the others back home, she was eating her fill — probably much more than she could get away with. When she would return to her warren and receive a scolding, the guilt couldn’t overtake how good the snacking was. Now she was with an abundance of tasty food and less incentive to share. Gaius was still standing there awkwardly and watching, so she turned away again.

“Uh, you know, Panne,” Gaius spoke up. “There’s other stuff here if you want. Like that chest. Er, I mean, what’s inside it.” He went over and flicked open the lid with the toe of his boot. It was stuffed with wrapped candy: chocolates, lollipops and other hard sweets, shiny films over each of them like they were silver coins. The taguel swiftly approached the hoard and took a handful. “Make sure you unwrap— Wait, spit that out,” Gaius warned her.

The rainy afternoon passed by consisting of nothing but Panne sampling one of everything available. She handed back the empty pastry sack to him at one point and promptly sat cross-legged on the floor of the tent, letting out a sigh.

“I thank you for being so generous,” she muttered to Gaius. For once she realized she had eaten to the point where her lean middle had gained a little roundness to it. She bent over and crossed her arms over it, cursing in her head that she got carried away.

Gaius shook his head wearily from his seat on the candy chest. “Today I learned you’ve got the appetite of a horse. You’ll probably skip dinner at the mess tent, won’t you?”

“I think so,” she nodded. It wasn’t like she dined there often anyway, and chose to have slimmer pickings on what she could find in the woods. The taguel stood up and grimaced at the unusual burden in her stomach.

“You’re going?” Gaius asked her.

“Yes,” she answered with a lift of the tent flap. She glanced over her shoulder. “May I come back again? …Tomorrow, perhaps?”

“Uhhm, sure thing.” He stood up and fussily dusted off his cape, then glanced down as he stepped on a bunch of discarded wrappers. “Yeah. Should be alright. Do you wanna see if I can get a hold of some cook…” He looked up from his boots and noticed she was already gone into the cloudy evening.

-~-

 

The next morning offered plenty of sunshine, so Gaius was spending it training. Some other soldiers thought the same; wooden practice blades were clacking against each other behind his back, while his focus was on a tree carved with a bulls-eye in front of him. He readied to throw a knife.

“There you are,” came a stern voice.

“Tch!” His blade accidentally hit the roots. Gaius spun around to Panne frowning at him, hands on her hips. “Oh, hey,” he said. “How are things?”

“I’ve looked everywhere for you. You do realize I was supposed to be coming by your tent for more candy?”

Stupefied, he spread his arms. “Did you even have breakfast yet?” She harrumphed and didn’t answer. “Look, lemme just…” He took one step towards the tree to retrieve the knife before a tug on the back of his cloak pulled him in the other direction.

“I am starving and have had nothing to eat since yesterday afternoon,” she told him bluntly. “Show me the richest sweets you have this time.”

“I already gave you some of the best there is…” Gaius mumbled, following obediently. Panne entered the thief’s tent first and shifted the rug aside, taking the first bag on top and carrying it over to the candy chest. She perched on the lid and promptly dug into a meal of candied chestnuts.

He watched her stuff a handful between her lips, hearing the crunching made by her powerful teeth. Underneath her lightly-tanned skin, and the patches of dark fur on her neck, shoulders, wrists and waist, only lean muscle made up Panne’s frame. Slender fingers brushed away the stray sugar crystals that had fallen on her armor, the minimal covering on her trim body. The construction of her outfit lent just enough support on the sides of her chest, and three flexible bands bridged over the middle of her torso. Her navel still peeked out, a shallow dent in the skin where rumbles of hunger came from inside. She crossed a thigh over the other, a wavering bare foot sticking out from the sleeves on her lower legs.

“What are you staring at?” Panne barked.

“Nothing,” Gaius said tactfully in reply, pulling at the bottom of his glove. “Just save some of the nuts for the sparrows if you can. I like to feed the little guys with those.” He started whistling and strolled up to the satchel pit, grabbing a bag of pastries for himself.

“Drop those right now,” said Panne as she sprang up. “I had my eyes on those first.”

“Who said?”

“I would be more than happy to duel you to prove that they’re mine,” the taguel dared.

“You know what, they’re all yours. Have a ball with them.” Gaius resigned to leave his own treasure at her feet, an offering to be spared of her wrath. It was obvious to him that this addiction was partly his fault, and there was no use seeing his mistake for any longer. “I’m heading out, so do what you want. Careful you don’t go overboard, alright?”

“I know restraint,” Panne responded with a huff. “And I do appreciate all this.” While he turned to go, he witnessed her waterfalling a palmful of the sweet chestnuts over his shoulder. Strength was something that Panne seemed to display openly, but gratitude, not so much.

-~-

 

Gaius had to adjust to the presence of an intruder in his tent. When his stock would shrink—a few handfuls here, an entire meal’s worth there—he accepted it and went out of his way to replenish it. It was good that at least she didn’t just whisk all his candy satchels away in the jaws of her beast form, and chose to indulge in the confines of the shelter. Panne was ever the shy eater when he walked in on her, immediately scrubbing her face from berry stains or dabs of cream, unable to hide her blush.

The taguel would scamper to put everything back in the pit. “I have to go. There are matters I need to take care of.” She’d lug off her fuller stomach for the rest of the day.

And so it was also obvious to the both of them what these snacking binges were doing to her. It was masked for the most part by her upper armor, but where her hips stayed undressed, that was where the traces of thickness first appeared to settle. Then began the subtle downward pulls on her chestpiece to get it to stay in place. Finally the day came when Panne tossed the last pieces of chocolate into her mouth and had to say something to Gaius before she departed.

“What is this?” she furrowed her brow at Gaius, her finger prodding into the underside of an emerging potbelly. Her armor sank in around it a bit, a stubborn show that she couldn’t be getting bigger. “Why is this happening to me?”

The thief clutched the back of his neck. “It’s... fat. You’re getting pudgy.” It was hard to admit to the once-lithe warrior, but fact was fact. “I was afraid this was going to happen from all that sugar.”

“But _how_?” Her dark eyes burned. “There was never such a thing as a... fat taguel. How has this not happened to you?”

“It’s... probably my metabolism,” he explained.

Panne only blinked.

“Look, I know I can’t stop you completely, but try to cut down on how much you visit here. Maybe I can stash some fresh fruit in with the—“

“I wouldn’t be interested,” Panne shook her head, then picked out a few of her favorite hard candies from the wooden chest to take along. “I’ll be more careful then. Yes, simply be less hungry for sweets, and this...” She gripped her flesh, digging her nails in. “...should go away on its own. Thank you, Gaius.” With her tail bobbing above a pair of broadened hips, Panne departed the tent.

-~-

 

Weeks later, the scrape and clang of steel broke the tranquility of a peaceful field. Drying blood speckled the petals of trampled flowers, and dented armor pieces lay discarded amongst the blades of grass. Panne was in the eye of the deadly storm, her transformed self bounding and plunging into the masses of Risen. The reanimated soldiers hadn’t even grazed her through this engagement, but they were certainly quicker—or perhaps, she was slower.

It was hardly in the right moment for her to lament about it now, but Panne’s increasing weight transferred to her other form, to her dismay. The stockier build to her forequarters was tougher to notice, but the flared curve in her hips, thickened also by the layer of fur, surely wasn’t the build-up of extra muscle. Her pale midsection bowed with several inches of flab, practically stuffing her armor since her body expanded to stay proportionate. She couldn’t dash as quickly, shift herself in a new direction as nimbly either, and so it felt like if a mage were to don a set of general’s armor and go crashing into things instead.

She paused in the throng of combatants to give herself a shake, to settle out her wear. It was a vice like bunches of rope were tied around her joints and middle. Into the fray again, she careened into Risen with a juggernaut’s force. As unwieldy as her body was, she used it efficiently; if she stopped and swiveled on her front legs, she could send the grunts flying with a hip-check without the need to do her usual kicks. Regardless of how she changed, the fighters around her thinned at the same rapid rate.

Panne had to take a breather; she circled away and raised her ears like flagpoles to reorient herself. Through the dark purple smoke of the deceased bodies, other Shepherds were scattered about whirling their weapons. The front was being held well enough without her. But her glowing magenta eyes spotted no sign of Gaius. An energizing scent in her nostrils compelled her to turn around.

“Foolish man-spawn,” her rumbling voice growled out. “What in blazes is he doing so far away...?!”

 

Gaius gasped as his sword was parried away by a Risen lance, so viciously he watched it fly from his hands. He should have never thought for a moment that the undead pegasus knight leering down was still slightly pretty. Improvising he dove towards the ground, lunging for the animal’s legs. He put himself between a flurry of kicking limbs and piercing stabs, dodging as best he could beneath the agitated steed.

Something suddenly bulled the Risen pair clean off of the ground. While he uncurled himself, Panne had crushed the rider under a hind claw and craned her neck to sink her teeth into the pegasus, the artificial life snuffed out of them instantly. It was relatively quiet again as the smolders joined the dozens of other tendrils in the afternoon sky.

Before Gaius could thank her, the taguel whirled upon him. “Are you a madman?” she boomed. “...Never mind. I need you for something. A snack.”

“Seriously? Again? This is the fourth time you’ve asked in this mission...!” Gaius groaned, in part from the throbbing in his sore wrists. “And I told you three times before on the way here, you need to lay off the sweets.”

“But this time I am fatigued,” she huffed out. “My body feels sluggish, and I have never felt so irritated fighting on an empty stomach...”

“So what?”

“We are a three days’ march away from your tent,” Panne hissed. “I beg you, just a few pieces. If not, it’s easy enough to leave you alone so I can loot through your corpse later.”

At that veiled jab, Gaius blew out a sigh and emptied out a few of his pockets, stripping off wrapping paper when it needed to be. Panne’s muzzle hastily swept up all that was at her feet, her pointed teeth gnashing through everything chewy to solid. The tastes hardly even concerned her; it just had to be sugar.

She nodded her large head. “Good, good. I’ll remember this too. Watch yourself.”

For a terrifying moment Panne reared up on her hind legs, and paused like she was going to topple her big furry bulk on top of Gaius. Suddenly she sprung up, arcing over the terrified thief and coming crashing down on another approaching Risen. The belly flop did enough to instantly turn the enemy into dust.

The behemoth got up and charged off again, a battering ram through the carnage of war. Gaius scrambled to pick up his sword and follow the beast.

-~-

 

Panne reunited with Gaius’ heavenly stash shortly thereafter. She yearned for the comfort of chocolate and caramel again and gorged upon them seemingly without end. Candy never complained or judged like humans did. They just paraded into her growing, rumbling belly. And she even came up with a couple of routines; they could balance on her outstretched tongue and magically disappear, or dive from her fingertips into her voracious jaws below. For the first time she skipped a training session and lounged about against the wooden chest, a pastry bag also close at hand. Her bloated tummy needed an afternoon nap to recuperate afterward.

Every once in a while, she had to keep loosening the cord around her hips. Seeds and herb leaves were no longer carried in the pouch of hers, as lollipops and mints served as snack rations while she was away. The gluttonous lifestyle had further cemented itself in her figure. She could turn heads with her plushier rear on display, after onlookers would avoid staring at her pregnant bulge. Having a larger, softer chest meant little to her, barely worth flaunting. In actuality, it increased the need to reposition her garment to nearly every time she’d move, either to prevent the bands from showing too much skin or sinking into her delicate paunch.

Gaius was returning from dinner when a voice suddenly stopped him before his tent.

“Wait outside,” it ordered.

“Huh...?” He peered through the flaps and spotted Panne hunched over on the floor, her bare back facing him. She was clutching one of his knives, carving into her armor.

“I told you to _wait_.”

Gaius crumpled the flaps together. “C-Could you just tell me why you’re practically naked inside my room?” He waited in silence until Panne emerged outside, clothed with a hand on her hip. Immediately he noticed the three bands over her midsection missing, as if she were wearing an opened vest. Her belly stuck out considerably, but not without a patch of redder skin showing between her sides. Despite how her top was maimed, her breasts kept her armor taut in place.

“It was cutting in,” Panne stated, smoothing the frayed ends that remained.

“Right...”

“See you tomorrow.” She pushed past on her way out of the camp.

As she walked, silent upon the path only she knew, she felt the shackles of apprehension slip off. She could freely enjoy the heavier step in her legs, the jiggles that intensified by the day. How could she not be a little captivated by the sight of her gut wavering below, the little slivers of progress made each day to her dimensions and to her appetite?

Panne reached the cluster of bushes she called home and sank down to rest, arranging some of the dry leaves around her head. Her body swaddled itself with plumpness around her, hugging herself to get comfortable and warm. Cozying her thighs together, lifting her breasts gently with her forearm, they were the subtle ways she grew familiar with her curves.

A growl from her stomach disturbed the peace. She sat up on her palms; Gaius did chase her out before she was finished eating. It was either stuff herself full so she could be lulled to sleep by the quiet gurgles and sloshes of her stomach, or be kept up all night by her insides begging for a complete meal.

Panne leapt to her feet and darted off through the darkened woods like an arrow from a bowstring, aimed for the Shepherds’ camp.

 

Gaius awoke to the sounds of crinkling and scuffling coming from within his tent. For a hair-raising moment, he couldn’t make out the source in the absolute darkness. He bolted upright and reached for his sword to deal with the intruder, taking only a handful of steps before he was toppled from a blow to his front and swiftly disarmed.

"Urgh, wait!” The wind was slammed out of him again from a weight dropping on his middle. He reached out before he became victim to a killing blow, but the soft press of belly fat in his hand made everything come to a standstill.

Panne slapped him across the face, fuming as she straddled him. “I wasn’t going to hurt you until that,” she snapped. “What are you thinking?”

“What’re _you_ thinking, breaking in when it’s pitch black?” Gaius leaned up on his elbows, but Panne had the mass of a boulder. “You can’t honestly be eating candy at a time like this...!”

The taguel got off and crossed her arms, her round silhouette standing aside. “I can eat quietly.”

He was too weary to go hunting for a torchlight outside to bring in and remained sprawled out on the ground, blearily looking up at her. “I think I’ve got to set some rules. First, I’m running out of stock quicker than I can bring it in. So you either have to change your eating habits or uphold your end of this.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You help me do my heists. Just be an extra pair of arms and I’ll be happy.”

“Fine. I suppose I gave you my word to repay you. What’s the target?”

He started shuffling back towards his bed where hopefully he could sleep off the soreness. “I know a place. Give me another day before we head there though... I think since you sat on me I have to recover from a fractured rib...”

A mint ricocheted off the back of his skull and he stumbled over his cot, finding himself planted face-first into the ground and his legs dangling up.

“Sh— Sugar...”

-~-

 

“Well, this is it,” Gaius motioned into an alleyway. The midnight sky had cast its gloom over the nearby village, and he and Panne were the only ones out on the cobblestone streets. No lanterns were hung above the narrow passage as they skirted between a small store and the town’s bakery. “Oh, good...” The thief brushed aside some rubbish with his boot. “They still haven’t hammered this thing shut.”

Panne narrowed her eyes at the sight of a little hatch in the side of the building. “That is how you enter?”

Gaius knelt and pulled on the door slightly, a chain stopping it from opening all the way. He took a tool from his pocket and reached in to fiddle with the lock. “Yeah. Normally what the bakers do here is sweep out the dust, flour and food scraps out of this gate. With us, though...” The taguel heard the little jingle of his success. “We can get inside.”

“Useful,” Panne commented as he watched him lie down over the bulge of her gut. It was beyond poochy now, with the natural ability to hide her toes from her view. Disappearing also was the sight of her navel, deepening by the day.

Gaius had shimmied inside, his cape slipping through without catching. As Panne got down on all fours and peered into the darkened kitchen, where the thief was waiting and holding the gate open, she was hesitant all of a sudden. Her abdomen smooshed into the ground as she lay prone, and it’d be rolling out her sides were it not for her outfit clasping around it. Furred hips bobbed from side to side as she advanced.

Once her head and upper body emerged on the other side, the worst of her fears materialized. Her middle wouldn’t budge anymore, even though she could at least push against the wall. She struggled to lean off the bunched-up mound of belly fat being squeezed from every side. Panne’s stocky legs trembled as her toes tried to shove all her bulk another precious inch forward, her bottom wobbling the most. Her teeth were bared in shock.

“Aw crumbs.”

“Th-This cannot be happening...” she snarled. With more tugging, seriously sucking in her gut, turning her face red and livid, all Panne could accomplish was make the wallboards groan. To make matters worse, the front of her armor scraped against the ground and began to slip its hold on her chest.

“Okay, one tip for getting yourself unstuck when thieving is slow down and don’t hurt yourself,” Gaius hastened to console her. “Or there’s always some butter in here that’ll—“

Panne’s voice rose up bit by bit to sheer ferocity, a light beginning to envelop her. “I won’t be stopped by some stupid... man-spawn’s... _building_!”

Gaius stumbled back and shielded his eyes as a bright flash brought forth the creaking and snapping of the wall’s timbers. He looked up at the massive rabbit now scrabbling through into the bakery, shaking off sediment and splinters from her fur. She glanced back at the untidy hole she made, delivering a kick to punch out one last dangling panel. The taguel blew out a sigh from her round muzzle and continued stalking in.

“C-Crivens...” Gaius stood aside and let her pass.

“Where do they keep it? I smell so many good things but I want the candy first.”

He hurried around her to the tall cooling racks, inspecting them briefly. “Relax. This place is a bakery first and a confectionary second.” A burlap sack materialized out of his cloak. “This is the good stuff.” He was giddy already as he tilted the pan of glazed doughnuts down to the bag’s opening. Though he nearly fainted as a glinting claw reached in over his shoulder and pierced one.

“Geez, Panne,” Gaius shivered. “At least let ‘em get into the hoard first. Go over there and look for the candy bars. There’re boxes underneath the shelves.” Panne hobbled off on three legs munching on the skewered doughnut.

 _Of all the nights_ , the thief thought to himself, piling in pastries, eclairs and tarts with his nimble fingers. _I normally get in and out of this place without a sound. I even close the front door behind me to be polite_... He apologized to all the kitchen’s ovens and their products as sweat beaded underneath his headband.

“Oho,” came a monstrous purr. “What do we have here?”

Gaius turned around to witness Panne leaning over the display counter, a set of her claws lifting a glass lid over a two-tiered cake. White icing covered most of it, but he could tell from the orange swirls of frosting what variety it was.

“Do I smell carrots?” she asked as she took the entire plate to sit down on the floor. Without hesitation her mouth sunk into the top layer. “Mmmff-snrk! I knew it. It’s _sho_ good...” She dove back in, stuffing the crumbly treat between her cheeks, lapping away at the coating of icing from time to time. There was no need to be dainty as pieces tumbled down her long body, some accumulating on the top of her rounding gut. Panne raised the plate higher, scoffing in predator-sized bites.

Gaius quietly focused on his work, sliding a dish of pie on top of another sack, and constantly checked both entrances. If anyone came across him and his long-eared partner-in-crime, he’d be terrified that person would wind up as a snack too. “Hear anyone coming?” he asked, but only got a soft hum of satisfaction in reply.

Panne’s maw opened wide to shovel the rest of her prize in, claws compressing it into a sweet, dense mush. With the beast sated, she glowed again and returned to her normal self with a smile. Her stomach was packed from the sudden change in her size; a mound of flesh breached between her armor plating, taut and wobbly in the same state. She groaned as she slowly got her loaded body up from the ground.

“I’m glad I came along,” Panne crooned, resting an elbow on the counter to stroke her belly. “This is quite a haul.”

“Look, just hold these since I’ve got my hands full.” Gaius pushed a box of chocolate bon-bons upon her. He went and gripped a pair of drooping bundles in each of his arms, a weightlifter’s effort to get them above his knees. “Let’s get out of here, alright...? Gruh...”

As they ducked through the opening, Gaius shook his head. “Panne,” he paused, letting the bags slump. “You let me do all the hunting and gathering. I think you shouldn’t come on these missions anymore.”

She dropped the now-empty box of bon-bons on the cobblestone, and cleaned her hands off on her thighs. “I suppose if I’m not cut out for this, that’s the way it has to be. Should I carry something else for you?”

“Nah, I’m good...” He plodded past and stuck to the shadows as much as his comical shape would allow, and behind him a greedy stomach burbled on and on about how successful the venture was.

-~-

 

A curious aroma reached her nose one afternoon. Something freshly baked was calling to her in the direction of the mess tent. Panne hungrily tracked it down, surreptitiously entering the empty kitchen area. There on a table was a handbasket lined with plaid fabric and _full_ of cookies, with little chocolate morsels in them still glistening in their half-melted state from the heat of the fires.

Panne swiped it and prepared to duck out from the tent, but then she nearly bowled somebody over; a pink-haired woman who looked briefly unrecognizable without her armor on, wearing a dusty apron instead.

“Oh, hello there,” Cherche smiled. “I didn’t see you come in. Where were you going with that, Panne?”

The taguel glanced at the basket in her grasp. She clutched it in both hands and timidly hid the sight of her fat belly. “I’m taking these— f-for some orphans I met,” she stated.

“All the cookies?” The Valmese woman put a hand to her cheek. “Oh, what a nice favor…!” She gave a graceful smile, but only for a moment. The sly look that crept onto her features made Panne blush with embarrassment.

“Honestly,” Cherche continued. “Who do you think you’re fooling? You’re hungry, but look—“ She pointed up and down Panne’s body, the spots where flesh bulged out and strained her armor to near-bursting. “Your outfit hardly even fits you these days…”

“And?” Panne straightened her back and grimaced. Everywhere she was being squeezed, reduced to short huffs from the pressure against her chest.

“Hand those over,” came Cherche’s gentle request, beckoning with an outstretched hand. “It’s not good for you to be outgrowing your clothes. Your only clothes, in fact, considering I don’t see you wearing anything else.”

Panne growled; she shielded the basket with a turn of her hefty hips. She forced out an accusation back at the wyvern rider. “I overheard you in the stables alone once. I don’t know who was louder, y-you or your lizard.”

Cherche stood frozen there for a span, slowly turning redder than a dragon’s flames. “Don’t tell a _soul_. Do you understand me?”

“Modify my armor,” Panne found the courage to demand. “And let me keep the basket."

 

“These are delicious,” the taguel told Cherche from her seat in a wooden chair. “Perhaps as part of our deal, these get made for me every week…” She bit into one of the few remaining cookies in the basket, and adjusted the apron she traded from Cherche over her midsection. It was a skimpy covering, hardly able to drape onto her lap, yet alone tie the strings around her waist. Inside the woman’s tent, Panne had made the talented seamstress try to stretch out the leather-based suit of hers. She studied the process as another pitcher of warm water was poured over the surface of her shoulderpads.

Cherche pulled firmly on one of the bands, her expression set in stone. “If I must keep baking for you, I can try. Just like I can attempt to figure out the secrets of your people’s craft. This material is so strange.” She sighed and stopped tugging on the strap, holding it up to shake it and jangle the shell-shaped covering about. She laid it aside and reached for the chestplate hanging on a hook. “I think I did all I could,” she confessed, staring at it balanced on her upraised thumbs. “I managed to loosen the straps for you, and cleaned up the middle bands you obviously cut away.”

Satisfied, Panne came up to retrieve it and try it on. The fastenings came together much easier, letting her take a deep breath and proudly stick out her chest. “Much better,” she smiled. “I’ll expect a batch of cookies delivered to me another seven days from now.”

Cherche solemnly bowed her head. “As you wish. Don’t forget your cord...”

Panne stepped out into the night air and filled her lungs again with pride, this time pushing out her prominent belly. She chuckled at how easily her armor flexed, parting aside like drapes. And now with room to stretch, she felt like she had the capacity to devour the entire larder. “So much space...” she whispered to herself, and cracked her knuckles. Panne bounded off towards Gaius’ tent, starving again.

-~-

 

Gaius came back to his tent with a fruit basket in the evening. He dropped everything in horror. “Oh… gods…”

Every sack, the dozen or so the thief stored his candy stash in, was lying empty around the tent, some with claw tears in them. The chest was looted and overturned. Panne was curled up on her side, her back facing him. When Gaius approached, he saw her stomach had swollen like a perfect fleshy ball in front of her, stretched to an inhuman size. Her arms just barely wrapped around herself and her thighs squished up on the underside of it. As she nursed it, she took a deep, heaving breath and her gut seemed to puff up in her grasp, letting out a squelch from its fullness. She groaned as she cracked open an eye to look at Gaius.

“…I transformed so I could eat a little faster…” Panne languidly explained. “B-But I might have— BUUURP! O-Ohh… overdone it…” She sighed and rolled herself onto her back, her tummy wobbling in the open air. Just a tender poke into its tightness made her insides gurgle. “A poor idea.” She grunted and let her head fall back, her tongue lolling out.

“My entire stash…” Gaius muttered, clutching at his hair. He whirled in a circle, lamenting out loud. “You ate _all_ of my candy in one sitting…!”

“A feat no ordinary man-spawn can accomplish,” Panne said with a wincing smile. Her belly was so, so heavy, she had to shift the weight off onto her side again; it settled onto the ground with a liquidy slosh. “I’m not moving, not until I get all— urf… All of this digested away. Somehow…” Her eyes fell shut but her palm kept gently feeling around here and there.

Gaius stood speechless in the carnage of crumbs and candy wrappers around him, and jammed a lollipop into his mouth to pacify himself. There was no use arguing; Panne was going into hibernation like a bear in a cave. He blew out a sigh and went to his cot to take the blanket off of it. He draped it over Panne’s bloated form, yet her belly still showed out the side. The taguel was cuddling it like a sack of sugar doubling as an oversized cushion.

The thief spat out the remains of his lolly as he staggered to his cot and collapsed into it. He peered over at the lump of a bunny lying silently there, yet he could hear the odd grumbling all the way over on his bed. Gaius sighed and just kept the pillow over his head for the night. Panne was gone by morning.

-~-

 

Talk had spread, as gradually as Panne’s waistline, about the taguel’s extreme gain. Arguably the one who used to be the most formidable soldier in the Shepherds’ midst was the biggest one in stature too.

Layers of padding had settled into her upper arms and breasts and turned her top into the skimpiest halter imaginable. Her back roll between the shoulders was the newest place where blubber overflowed between the armor’s gaps. Panne’s front was all belly, as the constant stuffings had swollen it out into a globe with enough sag to hide her crotch from view. Her outfit couldn’t contain such a stomach anymore and rode up and sunk in as best it could do to let it grow freely. And there was no use trying to get the cord to wrap around her circumference either; her hips could brush a doorframe. Panne’s tail had also shrunken to a stub in comparison to the two massive cheeks bobbling about below, her fur thinned to merely the texture of lace. Her upper legs had long been loose on her shin coverings, but now her thighs spilled over and shook with her waddling gait through the camp.

Donnel lifted the tin pot atop his head to scratch his scalp. “Holey moley,” he muttered to the mage beside him. “She’s fattened up quicker than a calf. How’dja reckon she even did it?”

Miriel, who was acute in every observation, bumped up her glasses as she watched. “There’s a blatant rationale as to how that beast acquired so much adiposity. She simply let herself go.”

There were more speculative whispers carried along by the likes of Tharja’s tongue. “Since we see Gaius around her so often, he might have found a rather interesting way of bending her to his will,” she’d tell whoever passed. “Tamed that aura of hers in a flash… hee hee hee…!”

And Panne’s ears picked up snippets like this, but her temper never flared. She was determined to ignore it; to carry on oblivious to her weight.

 

She came to the mess tent to dine with the rest of her comrades, now that she hung around the camp more often. Free food was always a bonus. Panne searched for a spacious place to sit, and there she found it with enough for five bodies in either direction towards the ends of a table. She squeezed her thighs in the gap between the log bench and the tabletop’s edge, but she couldn’t quietly settle down her bulk without a resounding creak from underneath her.

Nowi, the spritely manakete on the very end giggled at her and cried out innocently. “Wow-ee, Panne!” she waved. “I felt that all the way over here!”

The taguel didn’t even register it, and sucked in her gut to reach for a single bread roll for her plate.

 

Gaius was sharpening a knife on his cot as Panne entered his tent. She dropped before the candy chest and began to pillage it without a word, automatically taking handfuls. It took her a moment to realize that this was the first time her belly could ever touch the container sitting in front of it like this, that she was also seeing into the bottom picking up spare candies - the licorice mints she liked the least.

She rolled away from it in disgust, crawling towards the pit. “Do you ever keep up restocking these anymore?” she raised her voice to him.

“Well, as always you’re eating faster than I can fill them back up,” Gaius answered, putting his knife aside. “Sheesh... This sugar craving of yours has really changed you.”

“Hardly!” Panne spat and staggered up, her belly wobbling. “I still move, I still fight… I’m the same taguel!” She approached Gaius like an angry giant, and he almost cowered at the sight of her navel coming near to brush him. “Different… just on the outside.”

As she stood before him defiantly, Gaius straightened his shoulders and frowned. “…Panne, your ears can pick out lies, right? Do you really believe what you’re saying?”

The taguel drifted a hand up to twirl some of her neck fur and smoothed it back down in thought. Her fattened fingers slipped over her bust next, daring to press a little into the flesh that constantly strained against her armor. She gently took a hold of her vast stomach next, where not a bit of trim muscle could be felt anymore.

Panne said nothing as she sat beside Gaius. The redhead tried to scooch away to give her distance but the cot warped and slid him back next to her so that their legs were forced to touch.

“Everyone can tell that I’m different,” came her quiet voice as she stared at her ginormous thighs. Beneath she stuck out a toe to trace in the ground. “More than ever. I’ve transformed into something I should have prepared for.”

There was little for Gaius to say in reply but keep balancing the cot for the both of them, keeping his hand firmly in the center. Carefully he lifted his palm — perhaps in an attempt to put it on her shoulder, though the ropes squealed in alarm.

The pair was jostled as a string snapped and Panne hopped off right away, before any more damage was done. She skirted around the candy chest, her furry rear trembling with her waddle. “Good night, Gaius.”

“Yeah…” He sighed to himself and chose to check the remaining suspensions instead of watching her go. He looked back at the open container and the rug sagging into the yawning pit, feeling an emptiness on the inside, but it wasn’t from hunger. He got up to shut the chest before retiring for the night.

-~-

 

Gaius had spent most of the afternoon doing his own business, and now trekked through the wilderness several leagues from the camp. Dusting off his gloves, he cast his eyes up at the yellowing sky cleaving a line through the treetops. The tranquility was broken by a winged animal coming the opposite way and passing overhead.

“Gaius,” Cordelia called, circling back and descending to earth. Her pegasus gracefully trotted up to him. “There you are. Chrom’s been looking for you. He wants you at the strategy tent immediately.”

“Oh, joy,” the thief sighed. “If he wants me to do something, tell him I already went on a mission of my own today.”

“I can relay that,” the knight replied, guiding her mount to step back.

“Or, I’ll just explain it myself. How about a lift?” He smiled up at her.

Cordelia giggled and tugged on the reins. “You’ve got legs.” She and her pegasus leapt up and took off, leaving him to run the rest of the way with a smirk.

 

Gaius approached the strategy tent in the center of the encampment, a place normally off-limits to the lesser Shepherds like him. The cluttered interior surprised him, with stacks of books resting on barrels and chairs, and crumpled scraps of paper around the legs of a big, central table. Several faces looked up from a large chart, including a tall armor-plated figure and a white-haired man in dark robes, but most importantly the prince himself.

Chrom nodded. “Welcome. Thanks for coming so quickly.” Frederick straightened his back and Robin put aside his quill to acknowledge him.

Lastly, Panne was leaning her bulk on one of her broad hips away from the others, and Gaius gave her a quizzical look as he joined her. She only frowned.

“Huh. Gang’s all here,” said Gaius.

Chrom folded his arms and turned to the taguel. “So, explain to us again what you proposed. A new tactical strategy, you said.”

She indicated Gaius with a tilt of the head. “I want us both to start deploying together in any combat situation, and I also need him to be my personal food carrier.” Her eyes were cast downward at her stomach. “For my stamina.”

“Uhh, what?” The thief’s eyes searched between the faces of the others. “Tell me this isn’t serious.”

“It is,” Panne answered, shuffling her weighty legs. “I thought it could be a useful job for you, since you don’t do much of the fighting anyway.”

“Gee, thanks…!”

“Will the both of you calm down for a second,” Chrom stepped in. “I just need to know why it’s necessary for Gaius to be treated like a servant of all things.”

Robin sighed and rubbed his chin. “I like the thought of pairing up, but the team that results is rather… odd.”

Frederick bowed his head. “And setting aside rations just for you is selfish.”

“It only has to be candy. Just Gaius’,” Panne tried to assert, though she looked with her arms tucked behind her back to appear as small as possible.

To everyone’s surprise, Robin laughed softly. “That’s hardly what I’d call a soldier’s provisions.” He leaned his gloved hands on the table before him, his face bathed in the gentle light of a lantern. “Panne, I honestly think we have to address the shape you’re in. Your physique has clearly changed; your battle abilities have to be hampered in some way."

The taguel looked away and tried to fold her arms across her round waist, hugging herself tight enough to make her chest armor creak in the silence.

“We know your overeating habits,” Robin put it gently. “Until you make changes to your, well, diet… I can’t see any reason you should force yourself to struggle through your duties among us.”

“I second that,” Chrom admitted. “Our Shepherds need to be in good form, not only performance, but appearance too. I’m afraid we’ll have to take you off the list of active units for the time being.”

Frederick’s gaze had become sharp enough to pierce Panne’s thick skin. “May I suggest that she’s given a few weeks to show improvement before I personally step up her training regimen?”

“We’ll see to that,” came Chrom’s reply, and he managed to smile at the sullen bunnygirl. “You’re dismissed. Go have a normal day before you work a little harder tomorrow, please?” Panne immediately turned to go and he watched her hurry to shift her bulk. Gaius hadn’t budged. “You can go too. No need to change any of your habits.”

The redhead did a casual salute. “You got it, Captain Blue…”

“One more thing,” Chrom said. “Gaius— stop feeding her.” It was less of a command and more like a word of advice.

Gaius paused for a moment and ducked out, suddenly finding Panne standing expressionless just on the other side of the flap. “Oh…” he began. “What are you going to do now?”

“Seek food at the mess tent, obviously,” the taguel stated, giving her stomach a feel. “It’s howling for food.”

“I guess it wo—“ He saw her eyebrow raise. “I meant, I guess I’ll come with.”

Gaius walked at a slower pace so Panne wouldn’t lag too far behind. His apprehensive side glances caught her jiggling paunch in motion, protruding quite a distance from her hips as they swayed along. “I’m sorry it was such a bummer for the heads to tell you you’re out of the team,” he said.

“It’s an offense,” she huffed out. “I’ll show them all for doubting me. I have enough control in this body to fight comfortably at any size.”

“You’re getting tuckered out just moving across camp…”

“Enough.”

They entered into the suppertime bustle underneath the tent, the other Shepherds paying them little regard as they carried their plates or tucked into their meals. The table in the front spread out a buffet of roast bird and vegetable soup, neither of which seemed very appetizing to Panne.

“Seating’s a little scarce,” Gaius said to her. “Maybe I can tell Ricken to beat it.”

And then her eyes locked onto it: Cherche stepped in from the kitchens balancing a gelatinous mass on a tray.

Panne approached the table hungrily, cutting to the front of the line.

“Hello,” she said rather timidly. “What do you have here...?”

Cherche laughed and ran a hand through her bangs. “It’s called flan. Quite a hassle to make, but I’m particularly proud of it. Takes a lot of sugar to make a serving this big... I’m guessing you’d like some?”

Panne bobbed her head, afraid to make a move for it lest the other Shepherds watch her hog most of it. The dessert and all its caramelized goodness was waiting, quivering with anticipation. She accepted the spoon and the plate that Cherche handed over.

“Hold it right there!” a haughty voice rapped out. Everyone, including the eager taguel, turned towards Maribelle in her usual rider’s garb, arms akimbo on her hips. She entered further into the tent and strode up to Panne, raising her chin up at her as she halted. “And just what do you think you’re doing, about to fatten yourself up even more? Do you even know how repulsive you look already?”

“I...” Panne started to say, but she seized up as Maribelle jabbed a finger down into the top of her stomach.

Maribelle cringed and pulled her hand away. “It’s as grossly soft as it looks. I watch you— we all watch you parade around your obesity so _shamelessly_. How can you even pull your weight in a _war_ like this when the only place for your body is in a greedy nobleman’s court? It’s just embarrassing. You’re sick! Greasy...! It’s absolutely unthinkable that we should have to put up with you still!”

The spoon dropped to the ground. Panne’s wild eyes blinked as fast as one of her people could run. She frowned, nearly sneered, her arms trembling as they seemed primed to throttle the smug-faced girl before her. Maribelle almost backpedaled, but she witnessed Panne cover her face and book it out of the mess tent with nary a sound.

All eyes flicked between the thief and the troubadour as they studied each other. Gaius quickly grew tired of waiting and ran out in the direction he suspected Panne would go.

“Someone had to say it,” Maribelle bitterly pronounced to those that remained. They all promptly returned to their own plates, back to their whispered conversations. She looked at Cherche. “Just a little scoop for me, please. I’ve heard wonderful things about how that dish has the most exotic taste...”

 

He guessed correctly where she would wind up. He found her with her back against the chest in his tent, but he never would have expected her to be crying instead of gorging beside it.

“P-Please leave me alone,” she sniffled into her knees. “I don’t want to take out my anger on you...”

Gaius cautiously went up and laid a hand on her head. “Panne, it’s alright, okay?” Awkwardly he stroked her scalp as she kept blubbering.

“If only you heard the way they t-talk about me, it wouldn’t be alright...! They... They abuse me more than ever!” Launching into a row of deep, heavy sobs, her whole frame shook with grief.

“Just don’t listen to Twinkles,” Gaius insisted. “She hates even the bed she sleeps her fussy blonde head on...!”

“ _Everyone_ despises me...! And _I_ hate this body too! It’s... It isn’t built for a warrior at all!” She scrubbed the tears with her wrists, dampening her fur. Her round face with its puffy eyes looked up at him. “I-I have no choice, just leave the army and disappear. I’ll c-come back thinner...!”

A lollipop was pushed slowly between her lips. Panne tucked it into one cheek and glowered, despite the sweet strawberry flavor.

“Better? Now come on,” Gaius said, grasping her hand. “Come on, let’s head out of the camp.” Thankfully he didn’t have to raise much of her weight on his own. She quietly let him lead her out of the tent and into the back woods, with the first pinholes of starlight appearing in the sky overhead. This wasn’t the way to the village and the bakery, nor was it the direction that she normally departed for rest.

 

After minutes of walking, Panne came to a slow in a copse of trees; big ones, gnarled a bit and tilted from their old age. The sleepy chattering of woodland creatures echoed from the branches and the hollows in the bark.

She spat out the lollipop stick and took a moment to catch her breath. “There’s... nothing here. But wait... I know this smell...”

“You definitely do,” answered Gaius. Without much fanfare he went up to one of the trees and reached in one of the cavities. He held a small leather bag in his hand as he turned around, smiling at her widened eyes. “I admit, I had to do something about you stealing everything from me. Figured the only way I could get you off of candy was keep it away from you and move the stash out here. But this is an emergency.”

Panne shook her head as Gaius let her peer into the opening: chocolate-caramel squares— her undisputed favorites. She recoiled a bit from the scent, salivating already. “No, I-I can’t...”

“It’s either you, or a squirrel, raccoon or bear gets to them eventually. Hey.” She froze as Gaius tucked an arm around the front of her waist and cupped her belly, looking into his remote eyes. “I’ve never actually seen how you much you can put away. You can show me from start to finish; no need to be shy.” In that moment he raised up the bag he was holding, away from her reach. “Uh-uh. Let me.”

Panne timidly sat against the trunk and waited while he crawled up before her. He offered out one of the chocolates, like a meek boy trying to befriend a stray animal. One bite could shatter the lock around her soul, pry open her indulgences to someone other than herself.

“Open up,” he smiled and waggled it.

And then it was gone. She whimpered as it slid half-chewed down her gullet, and massaged the mound of flesh it fell into, a drop in a bucket. Panne looked at him intensely now, wolfish, starved. “What are you waiting for?” she asked softly.

He grabbed a handful of sweets and let her snatch them all, cram them between her lips and muffle her satisfaction. Gaius’ gaze was focused in on the taguel’s belly, spilling out over her lap and hovering tantalizingly just off the ground; and it wasn’t even close to full.

“Eyes up. Faster!” she demanded with a laugh. Gaius obliged and tore off his gloves, filling both hands and letting squares slip from his grasp piece by piece, only to be chomped up. The heat of his skin made some of the chocolate coating melt between his fingers. Panne beckoned to keep his hands close and her tongue mopped up, eyes shut and navigating the syrupy rivers on instinct alone.

“You really are an animal,” Gaius chuckled. He offered the bag’s opening up to her mouth and shook it now and again to tumble more food into her, keeping Panne’s hands free to rub and jostle her rumbling stomach as it creeped outwards by the swallow. It surprised her when he suddenly emptied the remainder all at once, moaning as she clamped her hands onto her packed cheeks and took a moment to polish everything off.

They were silent for a moment, except for her deep breathing. “I’m not done.”

Gaius sprinted off to fetch a satchel of pastries this time. He leaned up on his knees, carefully arcing over her gut and dangling the fluffy, fruit-filled tart high above her excited eyes.

“Bunny want a treat?”

“Yeees...” came the impatient whine, deftly biting it once it dropped. Gaius swabbed up a glob of cherry with his thumb and tucked it into where it belonged. He gave her tummy a pensive squeeze, the trace rolls of flesh on her sides beginning to disappear as she grew tauter.

“Gods, you’re so soft...” he whispered.

Panne’s head rested back against the bark, blushing furiously. “Then massage it. Let me feed myself.” The bag was placed atop her gut and she dug in, stacks of pastries continuing to vanish. Her dark eyes watched him prod and lift between her spread legs. Kneading like dough, using the heel of his hand, he made her sigh every so often with bliss.

She tossed aside the bag and pushed him away. Gaius came back with more samplers; chocolate drops rolled in crushed nuts, cookies shaped like swirls, and frosted cream-filled eclairs, all with only one destination. Panne’s stomach churned as she indulged in messy combinations of the three, sandwiches and fistfuls crowding in together. She waved off Gaius from fondling her as her belly grew tender to the touch, leaning back so it wouldn’t droop in the grass.

Her legs slid about at random, some of the discomfort settling in with the huge volume of sugary mush. She couldn’t even think about getting up anytime soon. Still her teeth worked automatically, gnawing through the pain of her outfit growing ever smaller. Panne shoveled the last handful of cookie bits in and moaned as her insides burbled.

She let out a single belch; the torso of her armor snapped into pieces, shed right off her back like an empty shell. The separated chestpiece and shoulderpads balanced precariously in place over her breasts, which sagged onto her hulking stomach. Her eyelids fluttered as she moaned in relief. “ _More_.”

Another hasty of batch of chocolate duds lined up, followed by wafers of shortbread. Her tastes couldn’t discriminate anymore as she gulped and gobbled without end, to fill up as fast and as much as humanly possible.

No longer was she sharing part of the work of feeding herself, only keeping her mouth wide for the never-ending stream of goodies, her hands busy trying to ease away any feelings of fullness. Her digits roamed her circumference, searching, begging for extra capacity, endurance to keep going. Gaius fed her with the same unrelenting fervor, stopping only to let her bathe his fingers and rinse them from all their caked-on crumbs, the blow of hot breath from her empty mouth. He was entranced by her savage display of gluttony, utterly hypnotized by the way she kept scarfing down all within reach. Her stomach had grown to a wobbling sphere in no time, letting out a low rumble of warning.

Soon the only thing keeping down all she ate was the food still piling in. At her limits, Panne suddenly raised her head up.

“Gaius...!” she cried. “Stop! I just— I can’t eat another biiite...!”

The thief paused and smiled warmly, setting the bag down. “And finally, for dessert...”

Panne accepted the kiss, inviting his tongue in to collect any sugar left behind. She grasped him under the arms, settling him against her cushiony middle, the two of them hugging and cuddling each other as close as they could get. Slowly she hiked back until he was nearly lying atop her, one mammoth girl with the thickness of a mattress, finally at the end of her feast.

Their lips separated only an inch from each other. “That,” she breathed. “...was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Gaius shifted his weight off and gave her a pat. “I couldn’t resist anymore. Something’s just incredible to me about the way you eat. And how you look. It just makes all my work worth it.”

Her head rolled over to see the little pile of sacks that had accumulated around her side, letting out a weary groan. She had let her greed overpower her all to this point, the pounds that would result probably trickling on already. “I’ve overdone it again,” she said, tears welling up in her crimson irises.

Gaius just shushed her and helped her sit up straighter. “I want you to keep overdoing it,” he replied, as smoothly as always. “I don’t need you running off or losing weight. You could train to be something else; a giant, fluffy candy bag. My secret treasure.”

Her nose scrunched up and she giggled as he kissed her again. She sighed at the dull bubbling of her digestion underneath her pressing palm. “I think I like the sound of that.”

The quiet breeze felt cool on her warm, stretched skin, all of her pale, immobile enormity resting beneath the shelter of the huge, hardy oak. Gaius had slipped his fingers between hers and, realizing they were both a little sticky, felt nothing but content.

“So what comes later?” she asked. “What is there to do besides get bigger and bigger?”

Gaius smirked and tenderly laid his other hand on the crest of Panne’s gut. “There’s this… thing I like to do that involves a lot of fresh honey.”

 

“…I’m listening.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> The saying goes to write what you like, and I happen to be an avid fan of the Fire Emblem games and inclined to weight gain at times. This extended story was my first experiment in both fan-fictionish stuff and fattening. Is it more niche than anything I’ve ever done before? Probably, but like that’d stop a man with no taste.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, especially to those who helped motivate and encourage me to see this out to completion.
> 
> [Project: “youre waifu a shit"]


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